Over the past few months I’ve been asked time and time again “What steps can I take to perform SEO on my site?”

Generally, I ask about the site they are talking about (all sites need something a little different), have a nice little consultation with the person asking the question and then give them a list of things they may want to do (ideally), what they should do (mid-ground) and the things they need to do (must-do). So under those headings I’ve created a Top 10 list of the most common occurrences that I’ve found.

Must Do – Keep It Simple Stupid

Every site should generally have all the following completed.

1. Each page should have a UNIQUE title tag – add a keyword/phrase and your company name for good measure. – This is your primary marketing tool on search engines.
2. Each page should have a UNIQUE description – this should emphasise the main subject on this page – Its your main marketing tool on SERP’s after your Title.
3. Use CLEAN CODE – this at a basic stage just means that you make styling and javascript external where possible.
4. Use a valid STUCTURE to each page – use Heading Tags appropriately … don’t use the H1 tag more than once.
5. Use ABSOLUTE LINKS for internal linking – a few reasons but I like it for safety reasons, if someone copies your content they copy a link to your site (most people who copy your content are too lazy to realise this link).
6. Create and Update a SITEMAP – this is in essence an aid, it means search engines can see a list of pages and relevant details about them. (there are a few places that will create sitemaps for free)
7. Define your URL – www. vs non- www. decide which you want and add a 301-redirect – tutorial.
8. Be SOCIAL – get yourself on twitter, facebook, myspace, digg etc – link up a little, but more than this just build connections, talk to people ask opinions and build a network. Search Engines love people to be SOCIAL, but don’t spam social sites else they may ban you.
9. Where possible output to RSS feeds – you can submit these feeds to many sites, increasing your readership vastly.
10. Use ALT text on images – this attribute means google can index more about your site, meaning again more people can find you, and makes your site more accessible.

Mid – Ground

Still fairly simple stuff here – but requires a little more time, commitment and skill.

1. CONTENT is king – Give as much detailed info on the page topic as possible – do NOT copy this from another site – be unique.
2. REPLACE all “click here” links – links should be as descriptive as possible, anchor text is used by search engines and helps with accessibility.
3. Setup and send regular NEWSLETTERS – e-mail marketing is a fantastic way to reach your audience, encourage sign up and send out a newsletter on a regular basis.
4. Sign up to Google WEBMASTER tools – this is a nice little bunch of tools – sign up now for these tools.
5. Sign up for Google ANALYTICS – and any other analytics packages – get Google analytics.
6. Update your META tags – do this at least once a month until you get the best results possible for your site.
7. Find LINKS – ask your friends, family and anyone else for a link (or two) then go and ask other people too.
8. Content DENSITY ratio – this means less coding and more content!
9. Keywords in the DOMAIN – often this will help your SEO efforts, but only if your content is good.
10. Avoid FRAMES – they can’t be indexed and there are CSS/AJAX alternatives that are better for search engines and from a usability view-point.

Ideally – Getting Advanced

This is where it can get complicated and it will need real time and effort, as well as skill at a higher level.

1. Do NOT use Flash –  flash cannot be indexed, it won’t harm your SEO efforts (unless its your navigation) but it certainly won’t help it.
2. Link OUT – but only to sites your trust, this generally means the links will be of a higher quality.
3. Implement extra META tags – this includes the robots and expire tag.
4. Link new pages from your HOMEPAGE – doing this means that search engines and users will find it sooner.
5. Host on a REPUTABLE webhost – get a good referral and don’t jump into a deal that looks good, quality over price means you will always see more traffic to a reputable host than a host whom is questionable.
6. Start using PPC advertising – normally through Google Adwords (though MSN and Yahoo have similar programs), depending on your market this can be dirt cheap quality-traffic or high-cost quality traffic.
7. Submit PRESS releases – there a several sites that allow you to do this for FREE.
8. If your content SYSTEM is “out of the box” use the SEO plugin available – eg wordpress has “all-in-one SEO”, it cuts your work down.
9. Update ALL content on a regular basis – dependant on the size of your site you should update each page every few months (this doesn’t include blog posts).
10. Finally, keep clear of BLACK-HAT techniques – keep the right side of the Guidelines.

Free Sitemap Tools

• If you use WordPress I advise you use – XML Sitemaps plugin (it also creates a robots.txt file and submits the sitemap for you).
• Another nice little tool to generate XML sitemaps (though a little limited).
• Also there is this tool which generates the sitemap in a slightly different way to the one above.

Free Press Release Tools

• I use Press Box quite a lot – not the best or the worst of the bunch.
• Click Press is another nice tool – though quite limited.
• Finally, my favourite Press Release tool is PRLOG.org – it has the best search engine pick up i’ve found for any site like this.

Ever thought what would happen if social networking died, rather prematurely…aka NOW?!?!

Well having just read the Google SEO Guide – PDF (again) I am now living in a little fear, at least with Google they could be about to significantly reduce the inpact Social Networking links have.

Sites built around user interaction and sharing have made it easier to match interested groups of people up with relevant content.
Avoid:
• attempting to promote each new, small piece of content you create; go for big, interesting items
• involving your site in schemes where your content is artificially promoted to the top of these services

Although Social Networking has not been around for many years, it was quickly adopted by search engines as being very important. If a link became viral through these portals surely it was the crowds that wanted to see it! and this means it should be top of the rankings. However this was based on the ideal situation that no person would ever buy votes or anything like this. (This ideal shows what kind of sheltered life people at these search engine companies can live). So maybe this shows that at least Google are noticing this can and does happen (and it will never stop).

So what does this really mean? why should this bother the average website owner?
Well in truth, immediately I believe it means very little. Right now you should continue to social network, and share links with the world. This at least for the majority means you are encouraging good content. However at the same time you should consider that it appears as though the search engines are moving trends back towards real links from websites it considers to be “good”. This does not mean that social networking is or will ever be blackhat. However finding the next big craze that search engines like may also be key.

I think I found it in Twitter

I have talked to many readers of my blog recently, a lot asking about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Asking everything from what is it, to how do I go about it cheaply, to much more detailed questions. Admittedly I didn’t know all the answers, I knew alot but not all. That’s mainly because Search Engines (SE’s) like Google, MSN and Yahoo, keep search algorithms secret.

Now this might sound scary and make it almost impossible one would suggest to get a good ranking from such SE’s. However this isn’t strictly true, there a few things you can do and these will help you alot in getting your site out there and seen.

This first blog will deal with techniques and how they can make or break a sites rank. Further blogs will talk about Meta Tags and other key suggestions as well as talking about how accessibility and SEO go hand – in hand.

These tips are not fully detailed, nor should be taken directly. It is suggested by myself that you read between the lines, do some more research, or approach me individually at admin*at*andykinsey.com or leave a comment below.

There are two main catagories of technique, these are; White Hat and Black Hat.

Black Hat - deals with the things SE’s dislike alot, and penalise websites for. These include things like “link farming”, “doorway pages”, keyword stuffing, spamdexing and other such activities (which i wont go into right now).

White Hat – talks about the things SE’s are known to like or that SE’s are likely to like, things such as;
Fresh Content, good meta tagging, inbound links from “good neighbourhoods”, no dead ends, easy to navigate websites, submitting to directories (DMOZ etc) clean/non-clutters code and more.

If a website was to use black hat tricks (and it should be added, gets caught) all SE’s have been known to blacklist websites permanently or place you in a “sandbox” this is to say your site can’t be see from the SE for a particular period of time. Some BH tricks are worse than others, for example link farming is almost certain to be penalised as its easy to spot bad neighbourhoods. 

Where as if a site uses White Hat techniques, although not guaranteed, it is much more likely SE’s will link and rank you highly. Some techniques grab attention more than others, some are more important than others. But it is not the same for all websites!. 

Each website can benefit from good SEO techniques but if used incorrectly or not implemented correctly they will simply be a waste of time. 

Part Two – to be released Thursday 23rd October 2008 – 12 noon (GMT)